The 6’4″ and 210 lbs forward has posted seventeen goals and twenty-five assists in forty-nine games this season. He has surpassed his goal, assist, and point totals from last season and has done so by being an effective player in all three zones. MacEwen has really shown all the things this year that the Canucks targetted him for as a free agent prospect. His development has been a really encouraging story, going from an undrafted player to earning this call-up.

Prior to action on Sunday, MacEwen sits 18th in AHL scoring and had a standout performance last night with one goal and three assists.

At this time, there is no word on if MacEwen will play and if so for who. But if the Canucks likely wouldn’t be recalling the big forward if they didn’t intend on inserting him into the lineup. Tim Schaller is a regular healthy scratch, so MacEwen won’t have to worry about him but given that Markus Granlund only played 8:04 on Saturday night, I would suspect he is the player that comes out for MacEwen.

The topic of Utica and how the prospects are being developed have been a major talking point all season but MacEwen is a clear win for the Canucks and fans will be excited to see what the winger can do at the NHL level.

It seems most CA commentators are wanting to see what MacEwen can do. If he does play against the Sharks don’t expect a lot of ice time. It is an adjustment up to the speed and higher skill level of the players that are in the NHL. Also the Sharks are a very good team with lots of talent. That being said I I wish him well and hope he is successful.

I hope that he gets a chance to play with either Bo or Petey a big body on the left side would be nice to see in a spot for him to succeed. Be nice to see him with Bo and Jake three big bodied players who can skate.

Maybe watch the Comets play and then complain. Gaudette is getting more and more offensive confidence with each passing game in the AHL. This is how you develop talent. We know he can play in the NHL, Green knows this, and so does Gaudette. However, the coach, the player, the organization want his to do more than just play, they want him to excel.

Develop him in Utica (which has been unduly criticized by writers that know little about development) and bring him up later. Time there now will only improve his game.

“This is the future that I envision for Zack MacEwen. A few weeks of limited minutes and healthy scratches for Utica in 2017-18 before being dispatched to whichever ECHL affiliate is housing their cast offs. That’s fine enough for players on American League contracts, but it’s pretty embarrassing for a team to have that many NHL contracts in the ECHL, not because the talent level on the AHL team is too good, but because they can’t cut it at the next level.“

Wow. Read the article. Disappointed in Jeremy’s style. The comment I am a blogger and not a journalist says it all. “I get to tell it like it is”. That’s the problem Jeremy. The arrogance required to decide that You know the “it is” part when you have no personal knowledge or understanding of a player outside of a few stats, pisses me off.
Having said that, there are a few bloggers on the site that i do like. Looking at you Beich. And enjoy the comments section most of the time. Cheers.

I clicked on the article written by Jeremy Davis and read the comments, very interesting. CA editorial staff not only didn’t believe Zack was a prospect they felt it was a waste of a contact. For those keeping score it’s another win for Benning, amazing what his 30 plus years in the pro’s have taught him that the CA will never know. Think of the pie chart where the biggest slice is not knowing what you don’t know. mic drop

The problem is when people don’t like a player or coach they will cherry pick stats that make their comments seem correct. Unfortunately you shouldn’t be making judgement calls on someone’s career if you haven’t spent time watching them actually play. GM Jim Benning has more insight into the game and talent than pretty much all the writers in Vancouver combined. Most of them are just young guys that make their opinions based on analytics. Fortunately we have a GM ( and coach) that actually played and understands the game. He has been putting together a good team and we are only a handful of players away from a very serious compete level. Benning isn’t perfect, but the locker room in Canuckland, is drama free.

It was a little silly for Davis to write that article. Statistics seldom tell the full story, particularly for a young player. Canucks scouts — and Benning via videotape — would certainly have watched MacEwen play. Davis had no such opportunity.

The only reason it’s “fessed up to” later is because they’d look even more stupid then they already do, if they didn’t.

It’s simply sh…….ty writing with stats blinders on. These guys learn how to plot a graph in Excel and then start throwing variables in, and ignoring what’s actually happening. I wonder how many of them have actually taken statistics courses (beyond year one requirements…if they even went to uni) let alone have degrees in stats. Not that it’s necessary. Many people self study to a point where they would be equal to “experts”, but what do you think the percentage of these hockey bloggers is, that have actually done that? Like really put in the work to master statistical analysis to make sure they are accounting for all possible variables? My guess is not many. If any.

With some types of players, they can not do the same things or put up the same numbers they do in lesser leagues, but some players do what they do, and it just works wherever they are, Ferland and M. Tkachuk are examples of this. I hope Zack’s game translates well in a similar fashion!

While I do think the AHL can help some players develop parts of their game they need to work on, especially systems and defensive play, I think in the end it can’t create the underlying mental ability required to be successful in the NHL. Or maybe better said by saying, you can’t really learn the “NHL game” in the AHL. Because it’s a mental thing. The only way to learn to “process” the NHL game is in the NHL because that’s the only place it exists.

If Zack is good enough to be two steps ahead (mentally) of his AHL competition then hopefully that means he’ll be able to keep up with the decision making in the NHL. I love seeing the longshots become NHL success stories.

Usually I view injury callups as depth, not expecting them to play. It makes it easy to take when the Canucks use their depth as depth.

This one, though, I think is going to get a chance to show where he is as a player. The Canucks could have called up Sam Gagner or Brendan Gaunce and gotten a player that they know can at least fill in at the NHL level-one an offensive forward in case they want to fill in for Sven, the other a defensive forward to replace Schaller. There’s no reason to choose MacEwen to call up unless they intend to play him.

Now watch my prediction turn to dust as Zmac spends the next week or two in the pressbox, to be followed by Canuck4Life20 pulling this prediction three years from now.

I wouldn’t worry about that. No one is gonna remember what your prediction was three days from now let alone in three years.

But if you want to pass yourself off as a stats-based prospect expert on a site well past it’s prime and start putting out amateur hit-pieces like the one I linked above, then there’s a good chance that you will be called out for your arrogance.

Good on Zac Mac!!! The reality however will probably have Green use him the same way he did with Adam Gaudette when he was up with the big club, to get a good look at him. Both prospects mentioned here have the kind of work ethic where you know they don’t want to play in the “A” or Europe but in The Show. Very delightful call up I’d say.

Zac played centre through most of Junior and was moved to RW in Utica. I hope he plays and if he does I expect it will be at RW. I realize many wingers play their off side quite well but it is different and takes some getting used to. It’s not reasonable to expect a young guy getting his first shot in the NHL to switch sides and show his best.

I like the 3rd line of Roussel, Sutter and Jake and would like to see Zac get a shot with Bo and Goldy or Leivo.

Canucks have a decent collection of winger prospects with players like Lind, Dahlen, and MacEwen. And there’s a pretty good chance they will add another if they draft someone like Alex Newhook in June. Keep your fingers crossed that one of those players blossoms into a top six player who can play 20+ minutes a night and add 50+ points a season. Horvat needs a wing man.

Even Green can’t stomach anymore the tire fire bottom six that Benning painstakingly spent 5 years building while giving up youth and multiple chances at building for the future.

Funny how the dim are concerned about this site’s evaluation of MacEwan but don’t want to admit the site was largely on the mark with the vets paid big money, term and no move clauses that make up the worst bottom 6 in the league.

Even more funny, MacEwan probably would be in the ECHL on most good teams.

1. The Canucks don’t have any no-movement clauses currently.
2. The Canucks were 4th in the league in depth scoring as of December 31.
3. MacEwen is 18th in points in the AHL. He doesn’t belong in the ECHL.

Speaking of slurping, have you ever had an opinion that one of the two JDs didn’t spoon-feed you first you parody piece of sh*t?

I missed stats based argument that you presented for MacEwan being in the ECHL on most good teams. It sounds even more moronic now than it did two years ago when Davis first declared it inevitable.

Don’t try and spin this into some kind of ‘we were right all along’ argument in favour of this washed up site. Benning has always said that he would bring in young players when they were ready, and MacEwan is just another example. As was Demko. And soon enough Gaudette will be yet another.

Meanwhile all you can do is call people names and come up with terms like slurping. Your site is a joke.